I just switched over from the Moto Q on Verizon to the 8800 on Cingular. I live in NYC and the voice quality is substantially worse. I have 5 bars of service and still get consistent low grade static and a garbling effect ever minute or so. This is very annoying and makes it almost impossible to use as a phone. Was wondering if this is a Cingular issue or an issue with my Blackberry. Any input would be great.

Yeah Verizon did have very good service, never any problems, but I couldn't use my phone in Europe etc, so I wanted a more global phone. But now this is useless if the voice quality is so bad. Do you think its the service or a defective blackberry?

I just switched over from the Moto Q on Verizon to the 8800 on Cingular. I live in NYC and the voice quality is substantially worse. I have 5 bars of service and still get consistent low grade static and a garbling effect ever minute or so. This is very annoying and makes it almost impossible to use as a phone. Was wondering if this is a Cingular issue or an issue with my Blackberry. Any input would be great.

I would start with Cingular. I have excellent reception using Cingular in the Wash. D.C./Northern Va area (Pa too) and only have a couple of small spots in my city where your problems occur on my phone. Cingular told me it's the cell tower (or lack thereof) and that they are working on it. Do you get it all over NYC? The 2 spots I drive through every day are a couple hundred yards wide.

So you are saying it is probably a problem with the phone? It isn't a problem of bad reception (I have 5 bars), but bad quality (static and garbled effect). I am just wondering what other users think about service in the NYC area. My verizon service was as good as a landline, but this is terrible.

So you are saying it is probably a problem with the phone? It isn't a problem of bad reception (I have 5 bars), but bad quality (static and garbled effect). I am just wondering what other users think about service in the NYC area. My verizon service was as good as a landline, but this is terrible.

Sometimes the number of bars that appear is not a good indicator (on any brand of cell phone) of actual signal strength. The 8800 is known for good phone performance so it may be that Cingular does not have the best coverage in your area. My rule of thumb is pick the carrier with the best coverage first. After all, if you do not have a good signal the rest doesn't matter.

You definitely need to check real world coverage when switching carriers and base your decision on that. I know Cingular offers a 30 day trial period. Check you coverage around the city and make sure it meets your needs.

I just switched over from the Moto Q on Verizon to the 8800 on Cingular. I live in NYC and the voice quality is substantially worse. I have 5 bars of service and still get consistent low grade static and a garbling effect ever minute or so. This is very annoying and makes it almost impossible to use as a phone. Was wondering if this is a Cingular issue or an issue with my Blackberry. Any input would be great.

I'm in Bergen County NJ, just a stones throw away from NYC and I have absolutely no issues with coverage or any static on the line. I have also been in NYC with the device and still no issues. I personally am thinking that it might be an issue with the device. If you are looking to get true signal reading, you can do alt NMLL and that will turn you bars into a dbm reading. Usually, bigger the number (dbm is a negative) the better the coverage. The bars should reflect your coverage, but only way to get a true reading is switching it to dbm....

After being on CDMA networks for the past 8 years and now switching to GSM, the 8800 was the first phone that introduced me to the GSM "noise" that it is known for. The first GSM phone I purchased was an Cingular (HTC) 8525 and call quality was crystal clear most likely due to 3G/HSDPA. After just picking up my first BB two days ago, I have to say it is a tad annoying but managable. I'll be curious when the 9xxx series arrives and with 3G how the quality may improve.

Have been a Verizon, Cingular and now T-mobile customer in NYC I have to say that Cingular's coverage is just as good as Verizon's in the Metro area. It's probably due to their use of the 850 band, but the coverage is solid. It sounds like you have a defective phone. I have an 8800 that I use on tmo and I don't get the sound quality that you speak of and when a friend put in his Cingular SIM he thought it was also the best sounding berry yet. I would swap it out and see what happens.

As far as voice quality goes, I've always thought that GSM used the better codecs. GSM calls always sounded warmer to me, less digital. And every now and again you get the echo effect over CDMA that would drive me nuts. I hated hearing my self in my own earpiece.

About 3 times in the last month I have had load static and garbled voices in an area where I always have good reception. So I am thinking there is some interference (which has never happened with any other BB before and I have had them all) or something is wrong with the phone. Maybe that is your problem.

Have been a Verizon, Cingular and now T-mobile customer in NYC I have to say that Cingular's coverage is just as good as Verizon's in the Metro area. It's probably due to their use of the 850 band, but the coverage is solid. It sounds like you have a defective phone. I have an 8800 that I use on tmo and I don't get the sound quality that you speak of and when a friend put in his Cingular SIM he thought it was also the best sounding berry yet. I would swap it out and see what happens.

As far as voice quality goes, I've always thought that GSM used the better codecs. GSM calls always sounded warmer to me, less digital. And every now and again you get the echo effect over CDMA that would drive me nuts. I hated hearing my self in my own earpiece.

Give the swap a try...

I am new to Cingular and was previously Verizon and forgot ALL about the echo effect. That would happen to me and my gf on our BBs using Verizon and it really ticked us off. All I know is with the 8800, I rarely have to go beyoned halfway on the speaker volume and it may have the best reception I have had in a BB or maybe even a regular phone.

In terms of the "call quality" one hears when placing or receiving calls, I continue to experience the clearest, noise and static free calls using Cingular. Because I travel so extensively, there are areas where the signal strength begins to fade, however I continue to experience very clear calls until I'm in an area with no signal. It's amazing, the best of the carriers (T-Mo, Sprint, etc.) I have tried in the past. So as far as the technology is concerned, I find GSM stellar, certainly better than CDMA. However as I have mentioned in the past, the real key is to find the carrier that has the best coverage in your area. So if you are intent on obtaining a GSM phone then the two best in my experience are Cingular & T-Mobile. If however, GSM and the ability to swap sim chips from phone to phone is not important to you then the field of choices is wide open.